


Lux & Griddle

by kj_graham



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, F/M, Gen, Horseback Riding, M/M, More tags to be added, Rodeo AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24449107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kj_graham/pseuds/kj_graham
Summary: The Winchesters are rodeo legends. They're guaranteed to be at every rodeo, taking home the money and dropping audience jaws left and right.All of them, that is, except for Sam, who runs their ranch from behind the scenes and stays out of the saddle.And now? With the arrival of renowned National Rodeo Finals champion Castiel Novak to the Winchester Ranch, things are about to get a lot more interesting...
Relationships: Adam Milligan & Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Castiel & Dean Winchester, Castiel/Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, John Winchester/Mary Winchester
Comments: 13
Kudos: 27





	Lux & Griddle

**Wrangler National Finals Rodeo: December, 2017, Las Vegas, Nevada**

Sam Winchester didn’t think he had ever felt so alive as he did at a rodeo. The grit in his teeth, the bustling crowd of onlookers, the horses and bulls bringing their A game. His family at his side, watching him compete, competing with him. 

This was the second time he’d qualified for the NFR. He and Dean would be competing against each other in bareback bronc riding; their father in team roping; their mother in barrel racing. Adam hadn’t qualified yet--too young, too inexperienced--but he seemed to come alive just helping them.

Dean’s run was first. He had pulled a pretty tough ride, a chestnut mare named Croatoan. Sam held his breath all the way through Dean’s ride, standing just behind the chutes.

Dean Winchester, as always, rode bucking broncs with style. He sat Croatoan with ease, made it to the buzzer, and managed a fairly graceful dismount with the help of the pickup men.

There was a lull while everyone waited for his score. 

89\. That was far from a bad score.

Dean was grinning like a loon when he came climbing back up to stand next to Sam.

“Piece of cake,” he boasted. “I love that horse.”

Sam laughed. “Really? I seem to recall you cursing her out last year.”

“Shut up, Sammy,” Dean said, rolling his eyes. “She got us an 89. That puts her in my good books.”

Sam shook his head. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We still have to see how it goes for the others. Especially Novak.”

“Ugh, don’t speak his name,” Dean groaned. “Fucker’s too good at this whole rodeo thing.”

Sam just rolled his eyes again. Dean had self-identified Castiel Novak as his rival practically the second he started competing. Sam wasn’t even sure Novak knew who they were beyond their last name.

A few more cowboys took their runs. They pulled in some decent scores, scattered across the high 70s and low 80s.

And then it was Novak’s turn.

Novak had pulled Angelblade, a crafty grullo stallion who had a penchant for spinning his riders right into the dirt.

Dean was ecstatic at this turn of events.

“Oh, man,” he said, elbowing Sam. “Angelblade’s impossible. I’m actually gonna beat him, Sammy.”

“You might,” Sam conceded. “I don’t think I’ve seen many people make a qualifying run on him.”

Dean was grinning a little wickedly now. “Oh, he’s a bitch. I’d hate to pull him. Man, thank God. We’re saved. Suck it, Novak!”

Novak did not, in fact, suck it.

Novak _rocked it._ Angelblade threw him some dirty moves, a couple of spins that would have unseated lesser cowboys.

Novak stuck it all, and when the buzzer rang out to signify he’d made a qualifying eight-second ride, the smile on Dean’s face had been replaced by a scowl.

“Too good,” Dean grumbled. “He’s gotta be cheating, or something.”

Sam scoffed. “Cheating how? Novak’s as honest as they come.”

That just made Dean glare at him, and his face only got more stormy when Novak’s score was announced.

90.

Dean groaned. “Are you _serious_? One point. _One. Point._ ”

Sam didn’t have time to deal with Dean anymore. There was only one cowboy left before his run, and he was busy doublechecking his chaps, his spurs, his neck roll. He made sure his hat was tight on his head and slipped on his glove, fiddling with the rigging in his hands.

The cowboy before him finished his run. 85. Not bad at all.

Sam’s whole body felt electrified with adrenaline as he settled into the chute, securing his rigging around his horse and wedging his hand into the suitcase hold. 

Sam had pulled Morningstar. Morningstar, not-so-affectionately dubbed “Lucifer” as a rodeo-wide nickname, was a big, dark bay stallion. He was about as tough as they came, on par with Angelblade’s craftiness and, if possible, even dirtier.

Sam couldn’t afford to think about any of that. For the next eight seconds, all he had to focus on was staying on and keeping good form.

Settled, he nodded to the guys holding the chute. They opened the gate, the clock started, and Morningstar exploded out of the chute with a deep buck. Sam made sure to mark out, getting his feet past Morningstar’s shoulders to keep from being disqualified, and after that, he was just focusing on riding it out.

Morningstar was far from an easy ride. He bucked rough and hard, and dipped into nasty spins that nearly had Sam sliding off.

All things considered, his run was going very well. He thought for just a moment that this was a run that Dean would be proud of him for.

And then everything went sideways.

Morningstar tripped. Or slipped. Or something. Sam didn’t know exactly what went wrong.

What he did know was that Morningstar fell. Flipped around, dumped Sam to the arena dirt, and then landed on him.

Sam didn’t know anything after that.

* * *

Dean had never heard the NFR arena hush so quickly. The silence fell heavy, like a blanket of fog, and even the announcer was stunned for a second, microphone crackling.

Dean’s whole body was cold with dread. No bronc riding wreck was a good one. But wrecks like these, where the horse landed on top of its rider, those were the worst.

Those were the wrecks that got cowboys killed.

Morningstar was only on top of Sam for a moment. Then he rolled over, stood up, and broke into a lope around the arena. Pickup men were already trying to guide him toward the exit, away from Sam.

Sam, who was laying motionless in the middle of the arena.

Dean scrambled down from the chutes so fast he nearly fell. He ducked through the fence and, ignoring the cowboys yelling after him, sprinted as fast as he could toward his brother. Distantly, he was aware that their mother and father and Adam were doing the same thing, but he reached Sam first.

Sam, who was out cold, white as a sheet, and barely even breathing.

Medical staff were already coming, carrying a stretcher. Dean knew they’d already have the ambulance ready to go.

His 89 didn’t matter anymore. Mary’s yet again groundbreaking barrel run didn’t matter. John and Bobby’s stellar roping didn’t matter.

Only Sam mattered now, and as the medical staff locked him into a cervical collar and slid a backboard underneath him before they transferred him to a stretcher, he didn’t stir.

Dean had been scared many times in his life. He’d been scared to compete for the first time. He’d been scared by horses a few times. He’d been scared his parents were going to get divorced for a long time.

But nothing was comparable to the terror gripping him now. He ran alongside that stretcher like his life depended on it. There wasn’t enough air in his lungs.

He was the one to ride in the ambulance. John and Mary and Adam would drive to the hospital, right behind them. Bobby had agreed to watch their horses.

Dean wasn’t the praying type. But all he did that night was pray for his brother’s life.

Dean wasn’t the crying type, either. But when they got the news that Sam would be okay, he wept.

They all did.

Rodeo would forever be important to the Winchester family. It’s what had built them up, built the ranch, built everything they were.

But Dean would throw it all away in a heartbeat for Sam.


End file.
